Dog Day Afternoon

Dog Day Afternoon was Originally Posted on April 14, 2011 by lavarock

So you heard that I have helped deliver many puppies lately, Labradors, Poodles and Labradoodles. The mothers all got together and decided to be in season about the same time and two of the mothers arrived here (one from the mainland and one from Australia) already pregnant.

The Labradoodles were the first group (7 of them) and they were born Feb 22 so they are almost ready to go to their new homes. We hold puppies for 8 weeks and you should refuse any dog whose owner lets you take them prior to 8 weeks.

There is a loose timetable of growth for puppies, concerning about when they open their eyes, are able to stand, start to be weaned from mom and can be taken from the whelping box.

As these puppies are weaned, they transition from strictly mothers milk to a mixture of raw ground beef, ground beef heart, yogurt and raw egg. By about 6 weeks old they are eating raw chicken and tearing beef strips apart. I can attest that they have very sharp teeth by then.

Here we started a coop to help breeders and families serve raw meat to their dogs and it is amazing how many people have converted from kibble. The usual progression is that they have been feeding kibble, the dog get allergic to the whaet or grain in the dry dog food, the Vet prescribes expensive kibble (seems they keep tons of bags in their front office) and also prescribe antihistamines and antibiotics and the such. The pet owners hear about raw feeding and with great trepidation, try it. In a lot of cases, the problems all go away and the dog get better.

As I’ve said before, through their history, dogs (wolf family) ate meat and bones, they did not eat cereal. The cereal companies decided that they had extra product and covered it in meat juice. Nobody asked the dogs what they prefer.

I find it amazing that people spend such enormous amounts of money on dog food when their dog would prefer to eat dead animals along the side of the road and drink from the toilet (if given a choice).

Anyway, these puppies are fed USDA inspected beef and chicken from the same provider that delivers people food to the local supermarket. It is funny because the coop gets about 450 pounds of beef a week and that exceeds what the local supermarket gets.

As for labradoodles, they are a combination of poodle and Labrador which are mated for their coat. labs have fur and poodles have hair. People decided to mate them to get a dog which is heavier and sturdier than a poodle with the attitude of a Lab and a coat which does not shed much and does not cause allergies for those allergic to fur. The resulting dog could be crossed back to a poodle if desired.

So what does a labradoodle look like? I think a “wookie” from Star Wars, but here are some photos of both an apricot and a black Labradoole. The mother was a black Lab and a red poodle dad.

You are welcome to ooh and ahh at your convenience…